Speaking
at the ongoing Sixth African Green Revolution Forum in Nairobi,
the experts noted that 28 percent of rural Africa’s cultivated
land is considered to be degrading over time, a cause of low
food security and low economic growth.

Thomas
Jayne, a professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and
Resource Economics at Michigan State University claimed African
farmers have used fertilizer for long and thus leading to
diluting of key nutrients in the soil.

Experts
observed that even though there has been progressive performance
in the sector for the last 10 years, soil has lost strength to
boost production.

David
Ameyaw, head of Monitoring and Evaluation for Alliance for Green
Revolution in Africa noted that land prices also appear to have
risen dramatically in areas of high agro-ecological potential
within reasonable proximity of urban areas.

“These
trends have created new stresses on the ability of customary
tenure systems to protect small-scale farmers land from
encroachment. The region has experienced rising demand for
agricultural land both from international and national companies
as well as urban investor farmers,” Ameyaw said.

In Kenya
land prices have increased by more than 100 percent in the last
decades. This has led to sale of prime agricultural land in some
of the counties near Nairobi.

Ameyaw
said governments have also become increasingly aware of the
potential for revenue generation from the lease of agricultural
land and many are reportedly putting pressure on customary land
administration institutions to gain leverage over unutilized
rural land.

“This
trend is particularly problematic given that land rights under
most customary systems are almost by definition undocumented,”
he added.